Dinner Date
Daniel Choquet
Copyright © Daniel Choquet 2019
It had been a lovely dinner. With a couple who were no longer just our recent neighbors, but who had become good friends. Suzanne and I, both being on the shy side, had never been that good at making new friends, but Karl and Hilde had made up for that. Maybe the problem was that most of the other neighbors had lived in the area for so long that they already had their friends, so what we'd really needed was some friendly newcomers. And it was our good fortune that our hosts for the evening had turned out to be exactly that. As Hilde served the dessert, an unusual cake frosted with what we were told was marzipan, there seemed to be some curious nonverbal signaling going on between them. It was like an announcement of sorts might be in store. And it looked like the responsibility for this had fallen to Karl. He rose to speak, and his words had an almost rehearsed quality.
"Hilde and I want you to know how much we've appreciated your friendship since we moved into the neighborhood. And so we've decided we can trust you."
Trust us? I struggled to think of what it might be that we were to be entrusted with.
"You see, Hilde and I ... How to say it ... Well you see ... tonight ..."
"Just tell him, Karl." That was Hilde.
"You're welcome to stay longer. More than welcome, in fact. But Hilde ..."
I studied her. No obvious signs of sickness or unease. Karl took a deep breath.
"Hilde has a date."
Suzanne and I sat silently on the couch. We looked at each other and a great deal seemed to flash between us. I looked at our hosts, and realized that Hilde seemed not to share much of her husband's discomfort. She smiled and said simply,
"Well, so I think you know now why we spoke about trust, yes?"
Suzanne replied,
"Open relationship?"
Just then, Hilde looked at her phone.
"Oh my. I guess he's a little early."
I'm sure I saw a bit of a smirk on Karl's face as he commented,
"Perhaps a little eager."
Hilde's blue eyes suddenly focused on her husband with intensity.
"Yes, Karl. And so am I."
And at that, Karl looked over to Suzanne and me to explain,
"Perhaps you can tell. This is a first date."
Hilde then added,
"Please don't feel you need to leave. I totally trust that my husband would love to entertain you in my absence. And perhaps fill you in on things a bit."
And with that, she turned and was out the door. We could see the lights from the waiting car.
I was curious: "When do you expect her back?"
"By midnight, I should think. Standing agreement. But if not, I'm sure she'll give me an update."
It was weird, their coming out to us at this moment. Thing is, Suzanne and I had toyed with the notion of opening up in some way, but it had remained in the realm of fantasy and role-play. None of that had been about me with another woman. I was far too intrigued by the idea of Suzanne doing something. With someone. I'm only slightly taller than Suzanne, so I don't suppose it should be too surprising that her fantasy life often involved someone taller still. Someone like the tall blond Norwegian standing in front of us. And I loved the fact that Suzanne could share such a thing without fear of triggering my jealousy. But now I had an eerie feeling that maybe if something should ever really happen, my feelings might be different than in my fantasies. I honestly couldn't guarantee how well I'd be able to handle it. I suppose it helped to watch and see how Karl took it, considering that it was all happening for him in real time. I even speculated that our being here with him made it easier.
Suzanne clearly wanted to learn more about our neighbors'
situation,
asking then,
"I'm really curious to know how you and Hilde ... I mean, there must be some history. Like, why ..."
"... Why did we decide to open our marriage? Well we didn't really make a transition like that. Hilde and I met with what you might call a similar history. This is the second marriage for both of us. And back in Norway, you see, we were both ... how do you say it ... we were both affected by infidelity, as they say. And when we started together, and shared how painful all that had been, we thought we wanted to do things differently. We thought that maybe freedom would be a better way."
"Freedom to cheat?" Suzanne could be blunt sometimes.
"Oh no. In fact cheating was the very thing we were trying to get away from. We're free, but we have an important agreement: That everything is out in the open. No going behind each other's backs. No secret trysts."
I couldn't let that go without comment: "But how can you guarantee that? I mean the thing that humans have shown over and over is the irresistible allure of violation. As a very wise person has written,
Wherever there are rules, there will be trespassers.
"
"That's true, but we've both experienced betrayal. I can only hope that we'll never forget what that was like. And that our freedom to be with other people will keep enough pressure off that we'll be able to fend off the lure of the forbidden. And besides, think of what polite society thinks of what we're doing. In a way, we're already getting plenty of forbidden to be thrilled by. Our open lifestyle is already a violation of prohibitions, wouldn't you say?"
I decided to press in a different direction.
"Well, what about jealousy? I mean don't you get any of that when Hilde goes off with ... with someone like ... whoever that was?"
"Funny thing about jealousy. It's something that can play an unexpected role. It can act not unlike sexual teasing, amplify the excitement that is already inherent in the situation."
Suzanne jumped in.
"Are you saying that you don't just tolerate Hilde being with another man, but you ... you maybe find it a little ... exciting?"
"You could say that."
He fidgeted a little, as he said it, making me suspect that maybe Karl found this to be a bigger thing to admit than merely the fact of an open relationship. He seemed a little uncomfortable with this disclosure. It made me want to put him at ease.
"I totally get that, Karl."
